Chatting Among Friends
by Trevor X
Summary: Emblanon prompt. "He sometimes wondered why he put up with listening to her ranting at him."


"Chatting Among Friends"

Drabble-fic for emblanon prompt.

~o~

"Oswin! Are you listening to me?"

Serra was being her totally unpractical self, flouncing out after Hector's sworn man without a care about who saw them or what appearances might suggest. She wasn't wearing much more than a light evening dress, black satin set with tiny diamond highlights. It caught and reflected the moonlight in tantalizing fashion, a fact that was not lost on Oswin as he slowed to allow the shorter lady to catch up to him.

She wasn't quite panting, as she reached his side and glared sternly up at him. (Oswin patiently endured it; he'd had practice, you see.)

"I am certain that I wished for a thoroughly obedient servant, one that would be a credit to my station as a member of the nobility. And yet I am forced to endure the shameful attentions of blithering idiots, and the closest thing that I have to my vision of perfection is a broad back that I have to chase down in order for him to listen to me!"

"And on top of my trials, that rude Lord Harrington addressed me as though I were some common chattel to be shoved outside of the castle walls when the day ends. As though I were not a lady of refined breeding and impeccable character, can you believe it?" Serra paused for breath, a feat that had Oswin suppressing a sigh. The marchioness could rant for hours, with the proper motivation. And she loved to talk to him, though most of the time he found her perspective quite amusing.

Tonight though, he hoped that she managed to find the logic path to amusing, because everything so far was mostly exasperating. He'd seen the maids that she passed off as blithering idiots and they seemed quite competent in their jobs to him. They even showed Lady Serra the proper respect due to her station as the wife of Lord Hector. Her next sentence caught his attention and brought a grin to his lips.

"What did I do to deserve all of this; what sin did the gods find me guilty of? It cannot be pride, for I have humbly declined all offers of thanks for the service that I perform daily for Ostia's betterment." The marchioness let a heartfelt sigh pass her lips and Oswin caught her looking up to the heavens as if in supplication.

"And what pray tell, have you done lately that would merit such a lack of praise? I don't recall hearing of any new escapades that you've initiated, nor any unhappy shopkeepers." Truly curious, Oswin waited to see what Serra would offer as the explanation for her current 'misery'.

"Why to be sure, I married Lord Hector! Does not having to put up with his extreme barbarism and lack of even common breeding constitute a sacrifice of epic proportions? And have I not patiently borne this with utmost fortitude? Have I not attempted to educate Lord Hector as to the proper duties of nobility and the relevant points on religion? Why then is he still the uneducated, scruffy man that I married?"

Oswin could have pointed out that if Hector hadn't changed from having to endure close proximity to Serra, then neither had the lady herself been changed by the upgrade in her station. Or whatever you called it when two 'peers' were joined together, if you were to believe Serra's tale. Hector obviously bought the story, having married the lass.

But Oswin understood that if he said anything to that account, Serra might just take it as warranted criticism and attempt to be something that she was not. For whatever reason, his words seemed to reach her (on a certain level) more than what others might say. So for now Oswin held his peace and listened to his lady ramble on about the rest of her complaints and enjoying the fair view of her face in the moonlight.

_So why did he put up with all these little chats?_

It was all a matter of perspective, he supposed. After all, it was certainly easier to deal with Serra than it had been trying to keep Hector's ungrateful arse free from enemy blades during the young lord's adventures. It had taken both his and Matthew's best efforts to ensure that Hector didn't get himself killed by sheer bullheadedness or imbecility.

_Some days Oswin wondered whether the effort was worth the cost._

But then he only had to look at the debacle of Serra as she bossed around the much larger hulk that was her husband to know that somehow, somewhere karma had been satisfied.

~o~

_AN: "…read and review."_


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